| Youth Reports - 24/2/08 |
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| Written by Andrew Baron | |
| Sunday, 24 February 2008 | |
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National Colts Cup Last 8 Torquay 25 - 23 Shelford Shelford’s day at the seaside did not end as planned as they just missed out on reaching the last 8 in the National Cup Competition. With the sea gulls screaming and the sun shining at the kick off, both teams looked a little nervous. From the kick-off Shelford applied all the early pressure but had nothing to show for their efforts, and did not take a 3 point opportunity on 10 minutes instead, kicking for the line out which was well dealt with by Torquay. In the 16th minute Torquay put in a long punt to clear their lines and their backs did a fine job chasing it down and with the luck of the bounce going their way managed to score in the corner. This seemed to give them confidence and it was their turn to apply the pressure and Shelford gave away a penalty which was slotted over. Straight away from the kick-off Shelford were once again under pressure and a silly mistake saw Shelford give away a 5 metre scrum and Torquay managed to score and convert. With the clock ticking and Shelford looking into the abyss and 15 - 0 down they suddenly came to life. Some good pressure from the forwards saw Torquay give away a penalty which Ben Seymour converted. On the 32nd minute the forwards won some quick ball and got it out to the wing for Tom McGinty to power through two tacklers and score in the corner to make it 15 - 10 at half time. With a few choice words at the turn around, Shelford came out with purpose and belief and started to get their running game going and took the game to Torquay, putting in lots of attacks and keeping Torquay on the back foot, getting their reward on 45 minutes when a good back move saw Jon Caller finish in the corner and Ben Seymour kick the 2 points from a long way out. For the next ten minutes, it was all about Shelford’s attack and Torquay defence held firm, but on 57 minutes again some good forward play, saw them drive 30 m and quick ball along the back line saw Jon Caller score for Ben Seymour to convert, leaving the score at 22 - 15 and Shelford in front for the first time. But on 65 minutes, Shelford, trying too hard when they did not need to, saw an interception on the 10 metre line and the centre had a clear run to score under the posts - this made it 22 - 22 and with 5 minutes to go Shelford gave away a silly penalty which was well converted from a long way out, 25 - 22 with the clock ticking and some good defence from Torquay saw the last 3 minutes of the game turn into a nerve racking affair for both sets of supporters. But Torquay to their credit managed to keep Shelford out till the final whistle. A great game, played in the right spirit by two committed teams.Even though they lost, Shelford showed great spirit to get back in the game and can be proud of what they have achieved. I would also like to thank the army of travelling supporters who went a long way and almost out numbered the local crowd and also to thank Torquay for their hospitality and providing a French man to take the Mickey out of on the Saturday evening. Under 17’s Shelford 7 Bury St Edmunds 28 A considerably under strength Shelford (who only had 13 U17 players, and two borrowed U16 players) played a full strength Bury side out for revenge for their elimination partly at the hands of Shelford from the eastern counties cup. Shelford initially competed manfully and took the lead when playing with the wind at their backs ,scoring a well worked try from Tristan Tegg, Will Barnes added the conversion. Crucially just before half time Bury levelled the score which made for a difficult second period. Shelford held out until 10 minutes from the end when they tired and with no substitutes to add fresh legs to aid their defence, leaked three converted tries. Given another day with their key players back from Colts duty, this was a match Shelford would normally edge. The better team won on the day, but special thanks must go to the four under 16 players who helped out the 17’s, none of those players looked out of place and acquitted them selves well, thank you Jack Lines, Ryan Kenny, Will Morrish and Jonathan Swain. Under 16's Shelford 39 St Ives 7 It was back to their winning ways for Shelford as forwards and backs worked well together to secure a good win - it wasn't the points that were impressive, it was the decision making and direction that had proved elusive over the last 2 games. Unfortunately, skipper Josh Pateman needed a visit to Addenbrookes to sort a dodgy collar bone, but not until he'd opened he scoring with a typical run from a 5m tap penalty, following up with a clean break to set Cameron Fay free to float a lovely pass to Tom Pattison who sped for the corner, only to be brought down inches short, nevertheless, Pattison popped it up beautifully for Rory Stone to make it 10-0. Ives came back with a well worked backs try, but it was Fay again who broke free to set Stone up for his second - Ben Wierny converted. Just before half time, a trademark No 8 pick up earned George Newnham a score, brushing off 4 tacklers - 22-7 at half time. Shelford's set piece play allowed the home side to dominate - Ben Porch with a Man of the Match display stealing the ball time after time in the line out , with Dom Rowley and his front row taking 5 scrums against the head - the forwards took the ball time and time again, especially Dan Reilly crossing the gain line with impunity. Tenacious scrum half Alasdair Paterson spread it out when the situation demanded it - Will Morrish scored his debut try,converted by Wierny, Stone completed his hatrick with a great backs move, again the recipient of Fay's passing. Ben Cooper also crashed over after an outrageous dummy to make it 39-7. Under 15’s Shelford 36 Bury St Edmunds 0 Shelford’s unpredictable 2008 continued with a display showing focus, desire and expression.Sam Norcross fielded the drop-out start, danced through Bury's defence before feeding to Bengy Ruthen who powered his way over the line. A further five minutes of play without Bury touching the ball resulted in Bengy once again muscling in for another score. Second half Porridge got his try as well as Oli Newnham who stretched well to pick the ball off his toes, to score. If the wingers are scoring we must be doing something right. Forwards did really well against a big pack, front rows worked hard all game and Simon Craig was outstanding. Alex Jeffries keeps improving. Final mention must go to fly-half Lewis Cooper, his 35 metre drop goal attempt missed by a whisker, a black spot in an otherwise wonderful display. Under 12’s Shelford 40 Eton Manor 28 The visitors were Eton Manor, a completely unknown quantity for us as we had never played them before. They were easy victors in the pre match psychology stakes, as their fearsome South African coach barked instructions at a monstrous pack who wrestled each other, grunting. The synchronised push ups were extremely impressive. Our lot moped around as usual, miskicking drop goals and telling jokes about bodily functions. The game was to be divided up into three sections of 20 minutes to give everyone plenty of time on the pitch. It soon became apparent that we were up against it up front against the huge Eton Manor pack. The boys worked hard to at least retain our own ball at the scrum, with props Liam Calvey and Nick Cox again prominent. From one scrum fly half Sam Jones spotted a gap on the blind side. Ollie Walker popped it to him and Sam broke a tackle and galloped over the line to touch down. First blood to Shelford. The sterling work of the forwards in the loose created an opening for scrum half Walker to score a close range try. Centre Stephen Douglas burst through for another score, while winger James Tilbury scorched down the right wing for the final touch down before the whistle. Four Rory Hutchinson conversions meant we had raced into 28-0 lead. Shelford rang the changes for the second section. This meant we had an inexperienced pack out. Eton Manor got their forwards rumbling and soon they were back in the game. Despite some heroic tackling the boys couldn't keep them out and in a remarkable turnaround the second period ended with the score all square. Now we had a real game on our hands and the final period was tense and exciting. Despite not winning any line out ball we were more dynamic than Eton Manor in the loose. The tackling was immense - one particular effort by Sam Jones on the giant Eton Manor skipper was a great blow as the big No 8 seemed certain to score. The shock and bewilderment on their leader's face seemed to knock the fight out of Eton Manor. Shelford won some quick ball and it was quickly spun out wide to James Tilbury who touched down in the corner. Jones added the conversion. Then the game finished as it had started, with another fly half break by Jones ending in a score. A breathless 40-28 victory for Shelford. It was a very enjoyable game to watch and extremely gratifying to run out winners. Just as important however is the experience gained as we build a squad for 15 a side next year. We were missing a couple of our bigger players but we were energetic in the loose and kept moving the bigger team around. The finishing and tackling in the backs was excellent once again. We keep getting better - well done boys! Under 9’s Match 1 Shelford A 10 Cambridge A 10 It was a very hard fought game on a sunny Sunday morning sore these old rivals attacking hard and defending well. Try scorers were Tom Whitehead and Tom Cropper Match 2 Shelford B 0 Cambridge A 35 This was a very one sided match with Cambridge showing some good passing and rucking skills and the Shelford B team were over run by a very good Cambridge team. Match 3 Shelford A 0 Cambridge A 10 A very well fort match again but this time Cambridge ability to pass the ball wide quickly was to much for the Shelford team Match 4 Shelford B 0 Cambridge A 30 Once again the Cambridge A were to strong for this Shelford B team heads dropping there were over run again by Cambridge. There were some good points from the Shelford performance some good rucking and sheer determination won Connor Wells the man of the match.
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